Raymond Riles

Raymond George Riles (born June 1, 1950) is a prisoner in Texas who has been on death row longer than anyone else in that state. He was convicted of the 1974 capital murder of John Henry, a Houston used-car salesman, and sentenced to death. Though he was ruled competent to stand trial in the 1970s, Riles was subsequently diagnosed with mental illness. He is being held indefinitely on death row because he has been judged mentally unfit to be executed.

Riles' initial death penalty case was reversed on appeal because prosecutors introduced evidence of a separate crime during that trial. Upon retrial, Riles was resentenced to the death penalty. In 1985, he was badly burned when he set his prison cell on fire in a suicide attempt. A 1986 scheduled execution was stayed because of concerns over whether the death penalty was disproportionately applied to black perpetrators with white victims.

Officials in Harris County say that Riles' mental health is tested on a regular basis and that he could become eligible to be executed.

Background

Riles was convicted in the attempted robbery and fatal shooting of a 31-year-old man in Houston.^[1] In 1974, Riles had accompanied Herbert Washington to John Henry Motors in Houston, where Washington had purchased a used vehicle. Riles and Washington were armed with guns when they approached the proprietor of the dealership, John Thomas Henry, about problems they had with the car; the men demanded a refund of the down payment. Henry said that he would not issue a refund but that he would repair the vehicle. In response, Riles pushed Henry and then shot him from behind. The bullet went into Henry's brain, but he was still alive when Riles stood over him and again demanded money.^[2]

After Henry gave Riles a roll of bills, Riles and Washington went to Herby's Foods and asked the manager there about job openings. When the manager refused to give them job applications, Riles and Washington robbed the manager and his wife at gunpoint, getting away with about $1800. Police officers later spotted the pair in Washington's car, and a police chase ensued at speeds of up to 100 mph. When Washington crashed his car into a truck, Washington and Riles exchanged gunfire with police officers and the pair fled. They were arrested a short time later.^[2]

Conviction and appeal

At Riles' trial, he had multiple outbursts while in the courtroom, and he ultimately had to be held in a nearby cell while the trial continued. A psychiatrist testified that Riles acted like a dog when she tried to interview him - baying at the moon, barking and trying to bite her. Washington testified that he once saw Riles attempt to tie his wife to a railroad track as a train neared, screaming at her, "Repent, Jezebel!"^[3] Riles was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to the death penalty.^[3] Washington was given a death sentence but that was later overturned. He went to prison on a 50-year sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer in a separate case.^[4]

Riles' first conviction and death sentence were overturned on appeal because prosecutors had presented evidence of an unrelated crime (the armed robbery 40 minutes after the shooting of Henry) at Riles' murder trial. In 1978, Riles was retried, resulting in another capital murder conviction and death sentence.^[5] Riles' first execution date was June 18, 1980, but he received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court. He was then scheduled for execution on March 17, 1982.^[6]

Subsequent legal challenges

In early 1985, Riles was one of ten Texas death row prisoners who signed a petition requesting to forgo further appeals and to be executed.^[7] On May 21, 1985, Riles surrounded himself with a pile of papers, Bibles and other books and started a fire in his cell with the intention of committing suicide. He was hospitalized with burns over 30% of his body.^[8]

In the summer of 1986, Riles' execution was scheduled for September 17.^[9] An appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which had challenged the appropriateness of Riles' legal assistance at his original trial, was unsuccessful. In Riles v. McCotter, Judge Alvin Rubin wrote that Riles might not have received the death penalty if he had able legal counsel. However, he wrote that the U.S. Constitution did not require effective counsel for defendants - only counsel that was not legally ineffective. "Consequently, accused persons who are represented by 'not-legally-ineffective' lawyers may condemned to die when the same accused, if represented by effective counsel, would receive at least the clemency of a life sentence," he wrote.^[10]

On the morning of September 16, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to allow the execution to proceed, after Riles' attorney, Will Gray, argued that his client was insane, offering as evidence the fact that Riles said God had killed Henry. In the hours before his scheduled execution, Riles told a Muslim prison chaplain that he was ready to be executed. Two hours before Riles' scheduled execution, after considering a separate claim from Riles' attorneys that black men with white victims are disproportionately sentenced to death, U.S. district judge Gabrielle McDonald of Houston issued a stay of execution. That stay was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.^[11]

Ongoing mental health concerns

On January 10, 1988, the Associated Press reported that Riles had another execution date in four days and said that a stay was not likely.^[12] However, he remains on death row and has long been considered ineligible for execution due to mental illness. In 2008, Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney, dismissed concerns that death row prisoners have limited access to mental health services. "That really is not a factor in this case," said Wilson. "What the factor is, is that (Riles) was competent when he was tried and given a legal sentence. His confinement is still legal and he simply has a condition right now that makes him not eligible for execution. But that could change."^[13]

In a 2008 interview with a television news station, Riles said that God was responsible for Henry's murder and for Riles' 1985 suicide attempt. He said that authorities were silencing him because he had knowledge of "the satanic secret societies of the TDC shadow government e-system."^[13] Since the 2010 death of inmate Ronald Chambers, Riles has been on death row longer than any prisoner in Texas.^[14]

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